Towards the end of the article she points out that plastic bags are made out of ethylene which would otherwise just be burnt at the natural gas production fields, adding to the dreaded CO2! So save the planet and get as many shopping bags as you can!
From smh.com:
Ban on bags can't carry weight
Plastic bags are under siege, pilloried globally as a menace to the environment and a symbol of man's conspicuous consumption, despite mounting evidence to the contrary.
Without plastic bags we would all buy less, goes the thinking. But, of course, we won't. Hence you have the ludicrous situation at Bunnings where a customer buys a small, but nonetheless unwieldy bag of potting mix (in dirty plastic wrapping), a tape measure, a paint-sample pot, marker pens, pest oil and a bottle of Thrive, and is expected to carry it all out of the store in her arms, thus making filthy her white shirt, because Bunnings is a good environmental citizen and no longer provides plastic bags, or only reluctantly and for 10 cents a piece.
Australia's chief bag-slayer is our Environment Minister, the lantern-jawed former rock god Peter Garrett, who has little of substance left in his portfolio after the meaty bits were handed to Penny Wong. But his caged activist persona is just perfect for the kind of empty symbolism which has marked the Rudd Government's first 100 days. When it comes to evil Japanese whalers and plastic bags, Pete's your man. His first big act in office has been to declare bags would be banned or taxed into oblivion by year's end, and he has convened a summit of the nation's environment ministers next month to achieve that end.
Jumping the queue on Sunday was South Australia's Premier, Mike Rann, who announced a ban on bags from next year. "I am urging all states to follow this important step in ridding our environment of these bags that contribute to greenhouse gases, clog up landfill, litter our streets and streams as well as kill sea life."
All very virtuous-sounding, except none of it is based on fact. The Productivity Commission did a cost-benefit analysis in 2006 on the merits or otherwise of plastic bags, and found they comprise just 2 per cent of litter and it was not certain if they damaged animals.
The commission claimed plastic bags may be eco-friendly in solid landfill, because of their "stabilising qualities, leachate minimisation and minimising [of] greenhouse-gas emissions".
Three-quarters of us recycle the bags as bin-liners, pooper-scoopers or carry bags, thus confining stuff that might otherwise become litter.
But, as usual, green hysteria obscures the truth. For instance, Planet Ark's founder, Jon Dee, was quoted in 2006 saying he had been "inundated" with calls from farmers whose calves had died after swallowing plastic bags. But the National Farmers Federation has never heard of such a thing, a spokesman said yesterday. Nor has the Cattle Council of Australia had a single report.
Full article:
Our grocery store baggers always ask, "is plastic all right?" I say I prefer paper - and I explain.... plastic bags become open in the bed of my pickup truck and the groceries go all over the truck bed and the bags fly out to litter the roadside. I have to stop and pick up the trash, then repack all the groceries when I get home.But.... they ignore that and pack it in plastic anyway. If I remind them I asked for paper they retaliate and do mean things to my groceries. Also, I recycle the paper bags.
ReplyDeleteI don't know of any shop that has paper bags these days.Most people re-use or recycle the plastic ones. They are great for lining inside bins and even better for food scrap containers.
ReplyDeleteWe recycle thus:1. - Bag carries groceries.2. - Becomes cat toy3. - Holds other paper items for recycling4. - Is shreaded and worked into the garden5. - Or is used to start the BBQ, then the ashes are worked into the garden.I think the grocery store pushes the plastic bags because they are cheaper. But I have a much better idea.Design cars with a detachable grocery cart with big wheels. You wheel the cart into the store, put your groceries in. The technology exists to scan the items without removing them from the cart.Take the cart outside, attach it to the car. Drive home, detach cart and take it into your house. This way the groceries are only touched twice instead of 5 times. You save time and effort and with less handling there are fewer germs introduced to your food. And you don't use any bags!
ReplyDeleteI used to use boxes if a supermarket made them available (back when I used supermarkets regularly). I found them no harder to carry, and they didn't release their contents while driving. Bonus - they protect the soft items from getting squashed in transit.
ReplyDeleteAlso boxes are great for storing items, packing for moving, using to contain seedling pots, mulch in garden.Woolworths just crush them. I wonder what the new Coles supermarket will do.This is really off-topic, but I heard the other day that the guy that constructs all the cardboard crushers for all the supermarkets in Australia is based at Deepwater, just out of Tenterfield. He was based in Brisbane but reckons that country workers are more dependable than city workers, and that offsets any increased costs of transport etc. If only a few other manufacturers could see that!
ReplyDelete